Overview
Aston Villa have qualified for the 2024-25 Champions League after finishing fourth in the Premier League last season, and they will be confident of a smooth start against Swiss side Young Boys.
Villa Park will become the 11th English club to participate in the Champions League since the tournament began in 1992. Although they have never participated in the Champions League before, Villa are former European Cup winners (1981-1982).
Villa are not a team that regularly play at this level, but they now have a manager who is familiar with European competition. Aston Villa will be the sixth team Unai Emery has managed in the Champions League, following Valencia, Spartak Moscow, Sevilla, PSG and Villarreal.
In fact, Carlo Ancelotti is the only coach to have led more different clubs to the Champions League than Emery.
The last time Emery took charge of a Champions League match was in May 2022 when he was in charge of Villarreal. He led them to the semi-finals of the 2021-2022 season, losing 2-5 on aggregate to Liverpool. However, that was still the Spanish "captain"'s best result in the tournament.
Meanwhile, Young Boys have not had much success in the Champions League. They won their last home game in the competition against Crvena Zvezda last season. However, at home at Wankdorf, they have not been able to win consecutive Champions League matches for many years.
Domestically, Young Boys have had a poor start. They are still without a win after six games, although they did beat third-tier Vevey-Sports in the Swiss Cup at the weekend.
Head to head record
This will be the first competitive meeting between Young Boys and Aston Villa. Swiss sides have won just seven of their previous 24 Champions League meetings with English clubs (D6 L11). Basel have won six of those seven, with Young Boys having won just one.
Young Boys’ only win against English opposition in the Champions League came in September 2021, when they won 2-1 at home to Manchester United. Last season, Young Boys lost both legs of their group stage tie to Manchester City.
Score prediction
Aston Villa are the favorites in this match with a 48.6% chance of winning. Meanwhile, the home team is 27.4% likely to keep the 3 points. The remaining 24% is the scenario of the match ending in a draw.
Prediction: Young Boys 1-2 Aston Villa
The match between Young Boys and Aston Villa takes place at 23:45 on September 17 (Vietnam time).
